Never Let Go
by Princess Pinky
Summary: Rose must force herself to literally let go of her one true love, Jack Dawson. But when the whistle blows, has she really let him go?


A/N: I was watching _Titanic_ music videos tonight, and I came across this one song performed by Kate Winslet called, What If. I listened to it and watched the video for hours, and then that got me wanting to read some Jack/Rose fanfics, and I realized I wanted to write a short _Titanic_ one-shot. Note that most of the beginning is a more drawn out version of what happened on the movie and then we get into MY part of the story. (Please hang in there and don't just think that I've copied everything. There's a reason it has to start the way it does, otherwise it just doesn't make a lot of sense.) Here goes….

_**Never Let Go**_

_Her eyes lay fixated on the twinkling stars above. Her short, shallow breaths escaped her blue and frosted lips in dark white puffs, partly reminding her of the better times, when she used to watch her grandfather smoke old cigars as a child._

_Incoherent words, a song, seeped between each raspy breath. It was so cold. She couldn't bare to move. But she still had to stay strong. She had to stay alive, she'd made a promise to Jack. Yes, Jack. Although she couldn't see him, she could still feel his icy hand wrapped tightly within her own. She promised to never let go. She intended on keeping that promise. They would be with each other forever. So she had to keep talking. Singing. Humming. Whispering._

_Then a soft beam of yellow flitted across her deathly pale face. She looked just like one of the countless dead, with her eyes frozen open to the heavens. Ever so gently, ever so carefully, she twisted her head in the direction of the distant beam. She could hear the cracking of the icicles as they broke in her fiery red hair._

_The beam hovered again, this time seeming to stay on her face for several moments. It took her mind time to register. Following the beam of light to where it began, she could see it was coming from a flashlight. A boat. A boat was weaving its way between the sea of death. The yellow shadow in the water rippled as the boat moved. It was moving away. For several seconds all she could do was stare, with her ice freckled lips slightly agape. Her mind was moving slower than frozen molasses. When it finally caught up, she realized what she had to do._

"_Jack." Dark white plumes of frost billowed from her mouth as she spoke. Her arms ached as she slightly began to wiggle her lover's arm. "Jack." It hurt to speak. Her voice was hoarse. When no response came, a panic slipped over her, giving her the strength to move her other arm. She touched his hand and tugged at him again. "Jack." His hand didn't even have the slightest warmth to it. It was like an ice carving of a hand._

_She forced herself up, turning over to gaze at his face. "Jack." It was blue. Frost had sewn his eyes and mouth shut, and his body had been wrapped in a paralyzing cocoon of ice. But she refused to believe it. Her movements became harder as she shook him. "Jack." Her head turned, watching as the boat got further and further away. Their only hope was disappearing into the dark night. The light was fading._

_Her voice began to crack, just as the ice did as she moved. "Jack." She shook him again. The metal handcuffs on his wrists clanked against the wood she was lying on. "There's a boat," she whispered. "Jack!" When no response came, she just stared. Her heart was breaking. She wanted to cry. To scream. And then she shook him again, although in her heart, she knew it would never make a bit of difference._

_She watched helplessly as his blue tinted head tilted back and forth with the gentle rocking of the water and broken wood, almost making it look as though he was doing it on his own. "Jack. Jack." Her white breath swirled around his frozen face as she begged for him to awaken. "Jack!" The metal rang in her ears as she spoke to him and shook him and refused to believe the inevitable._

"_Jack." Her face was contorting as she rubbed his hand, fruitlessly trying to rub life into her love. "Jack," she choked. "There's a boat, Jack." She gently began to massage his statue-like hands. "Jack." Her eyes lifted back to the boat. The light was almost gone now, but she could still see the shadows of the ores lifting up and down through the body dotted ocean._

_She knew Jack was gone and she painfully laid her head back down next to his as she continued to rub his cold and lifeless hands. She was trying to cry, but the stiffness in her body made it hard for her to even do that much. With each labored sob, a cloud of whiteness rushed from her mouth and dissipated around the lovers. She didn't want to leave him. She wouldn't._

_But as she closed her eyes, ready to die right there beside him, an image invaded her thoughts. There he was, just hours before, shivering in front of her and telling her that he wanted her to make a promise to him. A promise that she would survive. A promise that she would never give up, no matter what. A promise to never let go. A promise that she had agreed to._

_Opening her eyes, her body shook fiercely in the cold. Still holding onto his hands she breathed, "Come back. Come back." She lifted her head and attempted to speak louder. "Come back." But her voice was just too hoarse. "Come back." She lifted her head and watched as they moved on. "Come back. Come back." She swallowed. "Come back!" They couldn't hear her. She was just too weak._

_Staring out at the dark ocean, the captain yelled towards the ocean, "Hello?! Can anyone hear me?!" As his crewman muttered something to him, he turned and swept his yellow beam across the water again. A swishing sound greeted him as the ores splashed against the water one more time._

"_Come back!" Rose pleaded from the darkness. "Come back," her dejected voice said again. She was losing hope as she watched them disappear. She looked down at Jack, with frozen tears in her eyes. She pulled up her arm, which his frozen hand was still wrapped in, and forcefully pulled him free of her. His hand smacked against the wooden board, making her cringe._

_Jack's body slipped into the frigid water as her grip on him loosened. "I'll never let go," she murmured. "I promise." She brought his hand to her lips and kissed it ever so gently. His head slipped under the bluish water and then she let him go. His blonde hair swirled around his head as he slipped further and further into the icy depths. His hands seemed to stretch out to her as he disappeared into the everlasting blackness of the Atlantic Ocean._

_She was crying gently as she crawled off the floating board and dropped harshly into the frigid water. It was like a thousand knives piercing her already bruised, battered, and numb skin. Her arms flung out as she bobbed back up and rolled over. Then she pressed on through the dark water. She splashed and kicked and thrashed as she forced her cold blood to pump through her veins. White breath sprang from her lips as she fought to stay alive._

_Then she reached the floating piece of wood, where the blue skinned captain lay dead with his silver whistle still frozen in his mouth. Her shaking hands plucked the whistle from his dark blue lips and pressed it between her own. She began to blow. It wasn't strong at first, but as her will to live, to keep her promise to Jack pressed on, the whistle became louder and louder until it was ringing in her ears._

"_Don't let go, Rose. Rose. Rose!"_

Rose DeWitt Buckater's eyes flashed open. The whistle was pounding in her ears. Her eyes met Jack Dawson's fierce, powder blue ones.

"Thank God," he breathed. His arms wrapped snugly around her, or at least as much as possible with her bulky white life jacket in the way. Then he pressed the whistle to his lips again and blew loudly.

Across the water, the few crewman on the boat turned their heads at the faint sound of the whistle behind them. Their ores stopped as they waited to make sure it wasn't an illusion, and sure enough, the sharp whistle sounded again.

"Turn around!"

"We're going to make it, Rose," Jack whispered softly into her ear. He gently massaged her frozen hands as tears slipped from his eyes, instantly freezing on his face. "We're going to make it."

"I-I…" Rose looked around the darkness, at all the floating bodies. But she'd seen him slipped into the dark water. She'd promised that she'd never let go and then she'd let him to. "You're alive," she choked.

"I promised I wouldn't let you die," Jack said quietly. He blew into the whistle again. He could see the lights washing over the water and he knew their saviors were getting closer. His face grew dark as he locked his blue eyes onto hers. "But for a moment, I thought I'd broken that promise."

Rose twisted her head, confused by his words. "Jack-"

"You wouldn't wake up," he said softly. His voice was laced with genuine fear as he spoke. His body trembled as if to back up his words. "I was begging you to wake up," he said, "shaking you and I thought…" His voice cut off as a pale beam swept over them. Jack blew the whistle again and then waved his free arm, splashing to get the attention of the men in the boat.

Rose clamped her hand around his as he held her tight. The water bounced off of her as the boat pushed it towards them. Her voice was weak. "I-I love you."

As Jack opened his mouth, the boat reached them and a pair of hands dropped over the side. "Take her first," he commanded. He moved out of the way, allowing the crewman to grab ahold of Rose and pull her into the boat.

"Get blankets on her!" The captain barked, before returning his eyes to the blonde young man. He reached out a strong arm, to which Jack grasped and he helped pull the shivering young man aboard. "Hurry, more blankets!"

Rose was shaking like as leaf as the crewman piled large, woolen blue and gray blankets onto her. Her head was spinning. She still couldn't understand what had happened. How she and Jack were hear. She'd seen him die. Hadn't she? Looking up, he was just several feet away, also being bathed in dry blankets. "J-Jack," she whispered hoarsely.

"I'm here." Jack squirmed from the crewman and over to Rose, where he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her shivering frame close. His white breath encircled them as he whispered softly into her ear. "It's okay now. You're going to be fine." As he felt her collapse into his chest he soothed, "We'll be fine."

"H-how?" She asked quietly, closing her eyes as she melted into his strong embrace.

Jack began to gently stroke her frosty red hair. "How what?"

"What hap-pend?"

Jack closed his eyes and drew his slowly thawing fingers down the side of her pale cheek. With a sharp sigh he began, "I couldn't get you to wake up." He softly kissed the top of her head as he slipped his hand under her blankets and entwined their fingers. "I was calling you. Begging you to wake up, but you wouldn't. I thought…the boat was getting further and further away, and I knew I couldn't let you go."

Rose clutched his hand. It fit so well in his. Her chest was heaving as dark puffs of white blasted from her lips like gun powder from an old rifle. Her mind was spinning. He couldn't wake her up, yet she distinctly remembered it being the other way around.

"I told you not to let go," Jack whispered. "And I promised that I wouldn't let go. And then I left you on the board so that I could go get the captain's whistle and bring them to you." A smile played on his lips. "I guess the noise was loud enough to wake you up."

Rose closed her eyes as she felt Jack's warm breath on her ear and neck and cheek. Her mind wandered. This was definitely real. So perhaps his words and him leaving her only to save her had worked themselves into her subconscious, her dreams, and turned themselves into a nightmare? She nodded to herself. That had to be it. She squeezed his hand with renewed strength. "I promised you," she replied hoarsely, "that I wouldn't let go."

Jack turned her in his arms, bringing their faces close together. Despite his shaking, he leaned to his lover and gave her a long, powerful kiss like nothing he'd ever done before. "I love you, Rose."


End file.
